Ties With UK Set For Reboot?

Mumbai: The Labour Government has come to power after being in the wilderness for fourteen years. In this almost a decade and a half, the world has changed and the older underpinnings of Labour foreign policy are likely to be re-calibrated. The litmus test will be the traditionally prickly relations between the Labour Party and India on issues such as Kashmir.

As recently as in 2019, Labour had exhibited its interventionist tendencies. It remains to be seen how much of that has been eschewed, and how much lurks beneath the surface. How Labour walks the fine line between voter expectations, especially the Pakistani diaspora who form a solid vote bank, and expectations from an assertive New Delhi which has overtaken the UK as the fifth largest economy in the world, with all its attendant pulls and pressures, remains to be seen.

Indian diplomats, in the run-up to the polls, would have got a pretty good sense of how the cards will fall. The new Prime Minister Keir Starmer sounds reasonable in his desire to push for strategic ties with India based on the new realities. The Free Trade Agreement, hanging fire for a number of reasons, will be a test of that resolve.

The solidity of the Labour win will make taking forward steps an easier feat. What remains unclear is how India's sensitivities, for instance on Khalistan with a restive Sikh population, a deeply troubling issue for Indian policymakers, is handled. Prime Minister Modi has shown that he can be a charmer on the world stage. Starmer could soon fall under his spell. Record Indian...

Reflective of the overall election results tally, it was the Labour Party that saw the maximum number of winning Indian diaspora candidates, starting with party veterans such as Seema Malhotra – who held on to her Feltham and Heston constituency with a comfortable margin. Goan-origin Valerie Vaz, sister of Keith Vaz, won in Walsall and Bloxwich, as did Lisa Nandy with a big margin in Wigan.

British Sikh MPs Preet Kaur Gill, who defeated Tory first-timer Ashvir Sangha, and Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi both won back their seats for Labour in Birmingham Edgbaston and Slough, respectively. Navendu Mishra (Stockport) and Nadia Whittome (Nottingham East) were among the other Labour MPs re-elected with convincing majorities.

It was among the newcomers that British Indians made a big mark for the Labour Party, with Jas Athwal (Ilford South), Baggy Shanker (Derby South), Satvir Kaur (Southampton Test), Harpreet Uppal (Huddersfield), Warinder Juss (Wolverhampton West), Gurinder Josan (Smethwick), Kanishka Narayan (Vale of Glamorgan), Sonia Kumar (Dudley), Sureena Brackenbridge (Wolverhampton North East), Kirith Entwistle (Bolton North East), Jeevun Sandher (Loughborough), and Sojan Joseph (Ashford) among those set to take their seats in Parliament next week.

For the Liberal Democrats, who had a good election all round gaining over 60 seats, Munira Wilson won back her Twickenham constituency

Published on: Saturday, July 06, 2024, 11:50 AM IST